Raymond Francis Chappell (born 11 September 1942) is a former

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n politician. He was the National Party member for

Northern Tablelands The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England regio ...

in the

New South Wales Parliament The Parliament of New South Wales is a bicameral legislature in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), consisting of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (lower house) and the New South Wales Legislative Council (upper house). Each ...

from 1987 to 1999, and served as a minister from 1993 to 1995. Chappell was born in

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, the son of Eric and Phyllis Chappell. He was educated in

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 24,504 as of June 2018. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands region. It ...

in New South Wales at De La Salle College, receiving his Leaving Certificate in 1959. He went on to

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, and was an administration clerk at the University of New England from 1960. On 1 February 1964 he married Annette Mary Napier, with whom he would have five children. In 1968, Chappell was elected to Armidale City Council, where he served until 1983. He left the university in 1977 to open a small retail business. During this period he became active in the National Party, holding positions on the state and federal electorate councils. In 1987 he was preselected as the National candidate for the local state seat of

after the local member,

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's Bill McCarthy, had died. Labor endorsed McCarthy's widow Thelma to contest the by-election, and in a tightly fought campaign Chappell emerged the victor with a small 2.5% margin. A subsequent redistribution made Northern Tablelands notionally a National seat. He was comfortably reelected at the 1988 state election amid that year's decisive

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victory, actually winning enough primary votes to retain the seat without the need for preferences. He was reelected almost as easily in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

. In 1993 he was appointed Minister for Small Business and Regional Development, but he lost that position when Labor won office in 1995. In 1999, he was challenged for his seat by

Richard Torbay George Richard Torbay (born 26 March 1961), an Australian politician, was an independent member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Northern Tablelands from 1999 to 2013. Torbay was the 30th Speaker of the New South Wales L ...

, a popular former mayor of Armidale who was running as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. In a surprise result, Torbay defeated Chappell convincingly. Chappell lost 18 percent of his primary vote from 1995, taking 34.09% to Torbay's 44.15%. Ultimately, Torbay won with a two-party-preferred margin of 59.37%. After his defeat Chappell retired from politics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chappell, Ray 1942 births Living people National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly People from Armidale